Secretariat’s birthplace at The Meadow named to National Register of Historic Places

DOSWELL—The birthplace of 1973 Triple Crown champion Secretariat located in The Meadow Event Park in Caroline County has been named to the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service.

Known as the Meadow Historic District, the designation includes the foaling shed where Secretariat was born on March 30, 1970; his training barn, where he wore his first saddle and bridle; the yearling barn where he stayed as a colt; and a yearling barn annex, stallion barn, horse cemetery, well house and pump house. The Meadow Historic District was named to the Virginia Landmarks Register on March 19. The property, which dates to 1805, is owned by the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation.

“This is a major milestone for The Meadow Event Park and the important legacy of the farm,” said VFBF President Wayne F. Pryor. “We are extremely proud to now have both the national and state historic designations.”

Penny Chenery, who owned and raced the legendary Thoroughbred, said the timing of the announcement “could not be better, as everyone is hoping for a Triple Crown winner at the Belmont Stakes on June 6. I am thrilled that the birthplace of Secretariat is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.”

On June 6 American Pharoah, who won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, will try to become the first horse since 1978 to win the Triple Crown. He is a great-great-great-grandson of Secretariat, who broke a 25-year drought in winners when he captured the Triple Crown in 1973.

Leeanne Meadows Ladin, Secretariat tourism manager at The Meadow Event Park and co-author of Secretariat’s Meadow – The Land, the Family, The Legend, coordinated the research and documentation for the nomination process. Instrumental in the two-year effort were the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, the George Washington Regional Planning Commission, planners Diana Utz and Danny Reese, historic preservationist Eden Brown and the Caroline County Department of Economic Development and Tourism. Ladin leads the “Hoofprints of History” tours of Secretariat’s birthplace year-round by appointment.